ma.yan denotes a source of water, whether flowing in the land, marking a boundary, or pictured in poetic speech.

The term denotes a source or outlet of water: sources sought or stopped in the land, a named water source used in boundary descriptions, and water imagery in poetry and prophecy. Its singular and plural forms occur both in concrete descriptions of flowing or available water and in figurative statements that retain this water-source imagery.

1. Water source or outlet · dominant

   The term names places of water in the land: in 1 Kings 18:5 the plural construct form occurs with “water” as Ahab seeks water sources and wadis, while 2 Kings 3:25 describes stopping up each such source. It also marks the “spring of the waters of Nephtoah” in Joshua 15:9, and in Psalm 104:10 the APB renders the plural as sources sent into streams between mountains. Poetic and prophetic clauses use the same water-source image, including a sealed source in Song of Songs 4:12 and sources of water in a transformed dry land in Isaiah 41:18.

   1 Kings 18:52 Kings 3:25Joshua 15:9Psalm 104:10Song of Songs 4:12Isaiah 41:18

In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB commonly presents the term with “spring” or “springs,” while also using “fountains” in Genesis 7:11 and “fountain” in Song of Songs 4:15. These renderings indicate the verse-level water-source imagery rather than a fixed English equivalent.